The Combine used a combination of superior technology and numbers to overwhelm the Human forces. They caught the human population by surprise and defeating all of its armed forces in only seven hours. By the time of the Combine invasion, most governments on Earth were weakened by the Portal Storms.Īttracted to Earth by the dimensional rift caused by the Black Mesa Incident, the Combine, a vast alien empire, launched an invasive force that overpowered the planet by using the now conquered Xen, a crossroads of different dimensions and its Portal Storms on Earth. except this time we won't last seven minutes!'Īfter the war ended, local militias and other resistance groups sprung up to combat the Combine's garrison force.Īs the Portal Storms between Xen and the Earth raged across the planet, spreading Xen life forms across Earth, this caused the planet's populace to move into cities for protection.

In Episode Two, Eli states that if the Superportal matures, ' it'll be the Seven Hour War all over again. The war itself is never discussed directly in Half-Life 2 but mentioned briefly by Eli Vance in Black Mesa East looking at a small corkboard featuring several annotated newspaper cutouts and images that cause him to reminisce about the events during the war.

The 7 hour war